L’éolien offshore est l’énergie marine la plus avancée et utilisée dans le monde. Afin d’accroître l’énergie extraite du vent, les dimensions des éoliennes deviennent plus importantes et les parcs éoliens sont installées de plus en plus loin des côtes, où les mers sont plus agitées et les vents plus forts. De fait, les opérations marines sont plus complexes et plus chères et les fenêtres météo sont écourtées et se raréfient. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, un logiciel de simulation numérique des opérations marines est développé, en particulier pour des applications de descentes et de remontées de colis lourds. L’Algorithme aux Corps Rigides Composites, implémenté dans le logiciel InWave, est utilisé pour modéliser le système multicorps. Un modèle de câble et de treuil est développé, suivant la théorie multicorps utilisée, et comparé à la théorie câble classique dite « lumped mass ». Les efforts hydrodynamiques ainsi que les interactions hydrodynamiques sont modélisés par une théorie potentiel instationnaire satisfaisant l’hypothèse de faible perturbation, dite « weak-scatterer ». L’approche « weak-scatterer » du logiciel WS_CN est étendue aux simulations multi-flotteurs et validée par comparaison avec des données expérimentales. InWave et WS_CN sont couplés afin de résoudre l’interaction houle-structure pour des systèmes multicorps articulés en mer. Un couplage fort est adopté pour sa robustesse. L’équation de couplage est établie et validée via des comparaisons avec WS_CN. Le logiciel ainsi crée se nomme InWaveS_CN et utilise un code d’intégration en Python. Une nouvelle stratégie de maillage, basée sur un algorithme de découpe de maillages et une méthode par avance de front, est développée dans WS_CN. Enfin, des essais en bassin d’une opération de redressement ont été menés à l’ECN. La comparaison entre les simulations numériques et les données expérimentales offre une première et prometteuse validation d’InWaveS_CN. / Offshore wind represents the most advanced and used marine energy in the world. To increase the wind power extraction, turbines grow in size and wind farms are installed further offshore in presence of rough seas and strong winds. Marine operations become more challenging and expensive, weather windows are shorter and less frequent. This PhD work focuses on the development of a numerical tool to simulate marine operations with consistency, in particular lowering and lifting operations. The Composite-Rigid-Body Algorithm, implemented in the numerical tool InWave, is used to model multibody systems. A cable model and a winch model are developed following this multibody approach and compared to the classical low-order lumped mass theory. Hydrodynamic loads and hydrodynamic interactions are simulated using an unsteady potential flow theory based on the weakscatterer hypothesis, implemented in the numerical tool WS_CN. This approach is extended to multibody simulations and validated with comparisons to experimental data. InWave and WS_CN are coupled to solve wavestructure interaction for articulated multibody systems with large relative motions in waves. A tight coupling is selected for its robustness. The coupling equation is derived and validated from comparisons with WS_CN. This leads to the creation of a new numerical tool, InWaveS_CN, using Python as glue code language. A new mesh strategy, based on the coupling between a panel cutting method and an advance front method, is developed in WS_CN. Experiments of an upending operation were conducted at Ecole Centrale de Nantes. The comparison between the numerical simulations and the experimental data leads to a first and promising validation of InWaveS_CN.

Numerical procedures for reliable wheel and rail wearprediction are rare. Recent development of simulationtechniques and computer power together with tribologicalknowledge do however suggest computer aided wear prediction.The objective of the related research field at the RoyalInstitute of Technology (KTH) is to arrive at a numericalprocedure able to simulate profile evolution due to uniformwear to a degree of accuracy sufficient for application tovehicle dynamics simulation. Such a tool would be useful formaintenance planning as well as optimisation of the transportsystem and its components. The research contribution accounted for in this thesisincludes, in addition to a literature review, refinement ofmethods applied to uniform wheel wear simulation by inclusionof braking and improvement of the contact model. Further atentative application to uniform rail wheel simulation has beenproposed and tested. The first part addresses issues related to braking andwheel-rail contact conditions in the context of wheel wearsimulation. The KTH approach includes Archard’s wear modelwith associated wear maps, vehicle dynamics simulation andrailway network definition. In previous work at KTH certainvariations in operating conditions have been accounted forthrough empirically estimated average scaling factors. Theobjective of the current research is to be able to include suchvariations in the set of simulations. In particular theinfluence of disc braking and varying friction and lubricationconditions are investigated. Both environmental factors likemoist and contamination and deliberate lubrication need to beconsidered. As part of the associated contact analysis theinfluence of tangential elastic deformation of the contactingsurfaces on the sliding velocity has been separatelyinvestigated and found to be essential in case of partial slipcontact conditions. In the second part validation of the improvements related towheel wear simulation is addressed. Disc braking has beenincluded in the simulation set and a wear map for moist contactconditions based on recent tribometer tests has been draftedand tested. It has been shown that the previously used brakingfactor accounts for the combination of the contributions fromsurface elasticity and braking. Good agreement withmeasurements from the Stockholm commuter service is achieved.It is concluded that the model improvements accounted for aresufficient for adequate simulation of tread wear but thatfurther development of the flange / gauge corner contactmodelling may be needed. In the final part a procedure for simulation of rail wearand corresponding profile evolution has been formulated. Asimulation set is selected defining the vehicles running on thetrack to be investigated, their operating conditions, andcontact parameters. Several variations of input data may beincluded together with the corresponding occurrenceprobability. Trial calculations of four non-lubricated curveswith radii from 303 m to 802 m show qualitatively reasonableresults in terms of profile shape development and difference inwear mechanisms between gauge corner and rail head. The wearrates related to traffic tonnage are however overestimated. Itis believed that model refinements in terms of environmentalinfluence and contact stress calculation are useful to improvethe quantitative results. / QC 20100531

Pervasive applications of the vehicle simulation technology are a powerful motivation for the development of modern automobile industry. As basic parameters of road vehicle, vehicle dynamic parameters can significantly influence the ride comfort and dynamics of vehicle, and therefore have to be calculated accurately to obtain reliable vehicle simulation results. Aiming to develop a general solution, which is applicable to diverse test rigs with different mechanisms, a novel model-based parameter identification approach using optimized excitation trajectory is proposed in this paper to identify the vehicle dynamic parameters precisely and efficiently. The proposed approach is first verified against a virtual test rig using a universal mechanism. The simulation verification consists of four sections: (a) kinematic analysis, including the analysis of forward/inverse kinematic and singularity architecture; (b) dynamic modeling, in which three kinds of dynamic modeling method are used to derive the dynamic models for parameter identification; (c) trajectory optimization, which aims to search for the optimal trajectory to minimize the sensitivity of parameter identification to measurement noise; and (d) multibody simulation, by which vehicle dynamic parameters are identified based on the virtual test rig in the simulation environment. In addition to the simulation verification, the proposed parameter identification approach is applied to the real test rig (vehicle inertia measuring machine) in laboratory subsequently. Despite the mechanism difference between the virtual test rig and vehicle inertia measuring machine, this approach has shown an excellent portability. The experimental results indicate that the proposed parameter identification approach can effectively identify the vehicle dynamic parameters without a high requirement of movement accuracy.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This thesis presents a comprehensive study of the effects of material, geometric and operational parameters on flat belt-drives steady-state belt stresses, belt slip, and belt-drive efficiency. The belt stresses include: belt rubber shear, normal, axial and lateral stresses; reinforcements tension force; and tangential and normal belt-pulley contact stresses. Belt slip is measured using the driven over driver pulleys’ angular velocity ratio. Each parameter was varied over a range to understand its impact on the steady-state belt-drive response. The material parameters studied are belt axial stiffness and damping, belt bending stiffness and damping, and belt-pulley friction coefficient. The geometric parameters studied are pulley center distance, pulleys diameter ratio, and belt thickness. The operational parameters studied are the driver pulley angular velocity and the driven pulley opposing torque (load). A high-fidelity flexible multibody dynamics parametric model of a two-pulley belt-drive system was created using a commercial multibody dynamics code. In the model the belt’s rubber matrix is represented using three-dimensional brick elements and the belt’s reinforcements are represented using one dimensional beam elements at the top surface of the belt. An asperity-based Coulomb friction model is used for the friction forces between the pulley and belt. The pulleys are modeled as rigid bodies with a cylindrical contact surface. The equations of motion are integrated using an explicit solution procedure. Unlike prior models which use one-dimensional truss or beam elements for the belt, the present model uses a three-dimensional belt model which introduces the effect of the thickness of the belt rubber matrix (modeled using brick elements). This enables a more accurate prediction of the belt stresses and slip than prior models. This thesis resolves in more details the complex stick-slip friction behavior of an axially flexible belt coupled with the shear effects of a flexible rubber cushion and at the same time shows the effect of the main system parameters on this stick-slip behavior. Some of the important conclusions of the thesis include: (1) the driver pulley has two distinct contact zones - a negative traction zone and a positive traction zone - while only one traction zone is present over the driven pulley; (2) the width of the negative traction zone on the driver pulley increases with the belt-pulley coefficient of friction and decreases with the belt axial stiffness; (3) the maximum belt tension and normal contact stress occur on the driver pulley and increase with the belt thickness, belt axial stiffness, and coefficient of friction; (4) belt-drive energy efficiency increases with the belt axial stiffness, and decreases with belt thickness, belt bending damping, belt operating speed, and operating torque load. The belt-drive modeling methodology presented in this thesis which enables accurate prediction of the belt stresses and slip can in turn be used to more accurately predict the fatigue life, wear life, and energy efficiency of belt-drives.

Die Mehrkörpersimulation (MKS) kommt in immer mehr Bereichen zum Einsatz. Bis vor einigen Jahren war das Thema fast ausschließlich im Automobilbereich wichtig. Heute wird der Ansatz in fast allen Bereichen der Technik, in dem „Bewegungsabläufe“ eine Rolle spielen, eingesetzt. Im Gegensatz zur Finite Elemente (FE)-Methode, für die eine detaillierte Bauteiltopologie mit einer Vielzahl von Elementen nötig ist, können mit MKS-Systemen selbst komplexe mechanische Systeme mit einer relativ geringen Anzahl an Freiheitsgraden abgebildet werden. Das Programm Adams hat diese Entwicklung maßgeblich mit gestaltet. Neben den Erweiterungen im Bereich der Solver und anderer mathematischer Formulierungen war immer die einfache Benutzerführung, die Integration von weiteren Simulationstechnologien und auch die Entwicklung von Spezialanwendungen ein wichtiges Thema der Entwicklung. Im Rahmen dieses Vortrages wird der Einsatz von Adams an Hand von Beispielen demonstriert. Weiterer Schwerpunkt ist die Erweiterung der Modelle durch Berücksichtigung der elastischen Materialeigenschaften einzelner Bauteile. Die Kopplung zur Lebensdauerberechnung an Hand von Beispielen schließt den Beitrag ab.

The goal of this project is to develop virtual surgical simulation software in order to simulate the suturing and knot tying processes associated with surgical thread. State equations are formulated using Lagrangian mechanics, which is useful for the conservation of energy. Solver methods are developed with theory based in Differential Algebraic Equations (DAEs) which concern governing Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) that are constraint with Algebraic Equations (AE). An implicit integration scheme and Newton's method is used to solve the system in each step. Furthermore, a collision response process based on the Linear Complementarity Problem (LCP) is implemented to handle collisions and measure their forces. Models have been developed to represent the different types of objects. A spline model is used to represent the suture and mass-spring model for the tissue. They were both selected for their efficiency and base on real physical properties. The spline model was also chosen as it is continuous and can be evaluated at any point along the length. Other objects are also defined such as rigid bodies. The Lagrangian multiplier method is used to define the constraints in the model. This allows for the construction of complex models. An important constraint is the suturing constraint, which is created when a sufficient force is applied by the suture tip on to the tissue. This constraint allows only a sliding point along the suture to pass through a specific point on the tissue. This results in a virtual suturing model which can be built on for use in surgical simulations. Further investigations would be interesting to increase performance, accuracy and scope of the simulator. / Det här projektet syftar till att utveckla mjukvara för virtuell simulering av kirurgi som involverar knytande av suturtråd. Lagranges ekvationer används för att härleda energibevarande tillståndsekvationer. Lösningsmetoderna grundar sig i teori från området Differential-Algebraiska Ekvationer (DAEer), som avser att kontrollera Ordinära Differentialekvationer (ODEer) med algebraiska bivillkor. Ett implicit integrationsschema och Newtons metod används för att lösa systemet i varje steg. Utöver det så implementeras en kollisionsrespons-process baserad på det linjära komplementaritetsproblemet (LCP) för att hantera kollisioner och mäta deras krafter. Modeller har utvecklats för att representera olika typer av objekt. En spline-modell används för att representera suturtråden och ett mass-fjäder system för vävnaden. Valet baserades på deras höga prestanda samt starka anknytning till objektens fysiska egenskaper. Spline-modellen valdes också då dess kontinuitet innebär att den går att evaluera för en godtycklig punkt inom dess domän. Andra objekt, såsom stela kroppar, finns också definierade. Lagrangemultiplikator används för att definiera bivillkor i modellen. Detta tillåter konstruktionen av komplexa modeller. Ett viktigt bivillkor är sutur-bivillkoret som uppstår när tillräcklig kraft från spetsen på den kirurgiska nålen appliceras på vävnaden. Detta bivillkor tillåter att endast en glidande punkt längsmed suturen passerar genom en specifik punkt på vävnaden. Detta resulterar i en virtuell modell för stygn som kan byggas vidare på för användning i kirurgiska simulationer. Det vore intressant med ytterligare undersökningar för att förbättra prestandan, precisionen och simulatorns omfattning.

Nowadays, increasing pressure from legislation and customer demands in the automotive industryare forcing manufacturers to produce greener vehicles with lower emissions and fuel consumption.As a result, electrified and hybrid vehicles are a growing popular alternative to traditional internalcombustion engines (ICE). The noise from an electric vehicle comes mainly from contact betweentyres and road, wind resistance and driveline. The noise emitted from the driveline is for the mostpart related to the gearbox. When developing a driveline, it is a factor of importance to estimatethe noise radiating from the gearbox to achieve an acceptable design.Gears are used extensively in the driveline of electric vehicles. As the gears are in mesh, a mainintrusive concern is known as gear whine noise. Gear whine noise is an undesired vibroacousticphenomenon and is likely to originate through the gear contacts and be transferred through themechanical components to the housing where the vibrations are converted into airborne andstructure-borne noise. The gear whine noise originates primarily from the excitation coming fromtransmission error (TE). Transmission error is defined as the difference between the ideal smoothtransfer of motion of a gear and what is in practice due to lack of smoothness.The main objective of this study is to simulate the vibrations generated by the gear whine noise inan electric powertrain line developed by AVL Vicura. The electric transmission used in this studyprovides only a fixed overall gear ratio, i.e. 9.59, under all operation conditions. It is assumed thatthe system is excited only by the transmission error and the mesh stiffness of the gear contacts. Inorder to perform NVH analysis under different operating conditions, a multibody dynamics modelaccording to the AVL Excite program has been developed. The dynamic simulations are thencompared with previous experimental measurements provided by AVL Vicura.Two validation criteria have been used to analyse the dynamic behaviour of the AVL Excite model:signal processing using the FFT method and comparison with the experimental measurements.The results from the AVL Excite model show that the FFT criterion is quite successful and allexcitation frequencies are properly observed in FFT plots. Nevertheless, when it comes to thesecond criterion, as long as not all dynamic parameters of the system such as damping or stiffnesscoefficients are provided with certainty in the model, it is too difficult to investigate the accuracy ofthe AVL Excite model.Another investigation is a numerical design study to analyses how the damping coefficientsinfluence the response. After reducing the damping parameters, the results show that the housingand bearings have the highest influence on the response. If more acceptable results are desired,future studies must be concentrated on these to obtain more acceptable damping values. / För närvarande tvingar ökat tryck från lagstiftning och kundkrav inom bilindustrin tillverkarna attproducera grönare fordon med lägre utsläpp och bränsleförbrukning. Som ett resultat ärelektrifierade och hybridfordon ett växande populärt alternativ till traditionellaförbränningsmotorer (ICE). Bullret från ett elfordon kommer främst från kontakten mellan däckoch väg, vindmotstånd och drivlinan. Bullret från drivlinan är i huvudsak relaterat till växellådan.Vid utveckling av en drivlina är det av betydelse att uppskatta bullret från växellådan för att uppnåen acceptabel design.Utväxlingar används i stor utsträckning i elfordons drivlina. Eftersom kugghjulen är i kontaktuppstår ett huvudproblem som är känt som ett vinande ljud från kugghjulskontakten.Kugghjulsljud är ett oönskat vibro-akustiskt fenomen och uppstår sannolikt på grund avkugghjulkontakterna och överförs via de mekaniska komponenterna till växellådshuset därvibrationerna omvandlas till luftburet och strukturburet ljud. Kugghjulsljudet härstammarhuvudsakligen från exciteringen som kommer från transmissionsfel (TE) i kugghjulskontakten.Överföringsfelet definieras som skillnaden mellan den ideala smidiga rörelseöverföringen hoskugghjulen och rörelsen som sker i verkligheten på grund av ojämnheter.Huvudsyftet med denna studie är att simulera vibrationerna som genereras avkugghjulskontakterna i en elektrisk drivlina utvecklad av AVL Vicura. Den elektriska drivlinan somanvänds i denna studie har endast ett fast utväxlingsförhållande, dvs 9,59, för alladriftsförhållanden. Det antas att systemet är exciterat endast av överföringsfelet och kugghjulensstyvhet i kuggkontakterna. För att kunna utföra NVH-analys under olika driftsförhållanden har enstelkroppsdynamikmodell utvecklats med hjälp av programmet AVL Excite. De dynamiskasimuleringarna jämförs sedan med tidigare experimentella mätningar som tillhandahålls av AVLVicura.Två valideringskriterier har använts för att analysera det dynamiska beteendet hos AVL Excitemodellen:signalbehandling med FFT-metoden och jämförelse med experimentella mätningar.Resultaten från AVL Excite-modellen visar att FFT-kriteriet är ganska framgångsrikt och allaexcitationsfrekvenser observeras korrekt i FFT-diagrammen. Men när det gäller det andra kriteriet,så länge som inte alla dynamiska parametrar i systemet, såsom dämpnings- ellerstyvhetskoefficienter, är tillförlitliga i modellen, är det för svårt att undersöka exaktheten hos AVLExcite-modellen.En annan undersökning som utförts är en numerisk designstudie för att analysera hurdämpningskoefficienterna påverkar responsen. Efter minskning av dämpningsparametrarna visarresultaten att växellådshus och lager har störst inflytande på resultatet. Om mer acceptabla resultatär önskvärda måste framtida studier koncentreras på dessa parametrar för att uppnå mer acceptabladämpningsvärden.

This thesis aims to explore if multibody simulations is a suitable method to investigate vibrations in the steering system of trucks. Vibrations in the steering system and subsequently in the steering wheel is a common issue that automotive manufacturers face. The vibration levels in the steering wheel are in some countries regulated and some vibration phenomena can even cause issues with the handling properties of the whole vehicle. Therefore being able to predict and reduce these with the help of multibody simulations would be of great value. The thesis does this by comparing the simulations to measurements. It investigates what parts can be approximated as rigid, what the effects different numerical solvers have and compares different driving scenarios. This can however be quite challenging, one reason being that the differential equations arising when performing multibody simulations of trucks are very stiff. The numerical challenges of this must be overcome while still keeping the resolution of the accelerations in the solution high enough to still be representative of reality. The thesis also explains how to mathematically model a physical system such that the numerical analysis of it can be efficient. The results show that the success of multibody simulations is very dependent on the test case. However, they also show that together with physical measurements multibody simulations can be a powerful complementary tool. The thesis also presents improvements that could be made to the model as well as certain key areas that need to be studied more in order to align the multibody simulations results with measurements. The multibody simulations software used to perform the calculations and the modelling in the report is Adams developed by Hexagon AB. / Den här rapporten syftar till att ge inblick i om flerkroppssimuleringar kan vara ett användbart verktyg för att undersöka styrsystemsvibrationer i lastbilar. Dessa vibrationer är orsaken till en mängd styrningsproblem samt att rattvibrationer har lagkrav att inte vara för stora. Att kunna förutspå och efterlikna dessa vibrationer med flerkroppssimulering skulle därmed vara till stor fördel. Detta undersöks genom att jämföra simuleringarna med mätdata. Det undersöks vilken påverkan stelkroppsapproximationer av vissa komponenter har, påverkan av olika numeriska integrationmetoder samt steglängder och även olika körningslastfall. Att genomföra flerkroppssimuleringar av lastbilar är dock inte alltid helt enkelt, på grund av differentialekvationernas styva karaktär uppstår ofta konvergensproblem. Ska man sedan använda resultaten för att undersöka styrsystemsvibrationer måste man överkomma dessa konvergensproblem men bibehålla en tillräckligt fin upplösning av resultatet för att resultatet fortfarande ska vara representativt av den fysiska lastbilens dynamiska egenskaper. Rapporten beskriver även hur man kan gå tillväga för att matematiskt modellera ett fysisk system så att det effektivt går att utföra dynamisk analys av det. Resultaten visar att flerkroppssimulering kan vara väldigt beroende på vad körfallet är, med vissa körfall där simuleringar och mätningar stämmer väl överens och andra där detta inte är fallet. På grund av detta kan det vara otillräckligt att endast använda flerkroppssimulering för att utvärdera styrsystemsvibrationer, men resultaten visar att tillsammans med mätdata kan flerkroppssimulering vara ett kraftfullt komplement. I rapporten presenteras även exempel av viktiga komponenter att ta hänsyn till för att bättre kunna simulera styrsystemsvibrationer samt områden där mer forskning har potential att förbättra flerkroppssimuleringar i hänsyn till styrsystemsvibrationer. Mjukvaran som används för att utföra flerkroppssimulering är Adams som utvecklas av Hexagon AB.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In this thesis, an explicit time integration code which integrates multibody dynamics and the discrete element method is used for modelling the excavation and moving operation of cohesive soft soil (such as mud and snow) by bulldozers. A soft cohesive soil material model (that includes normal and tangential inter-particle force models) is used that can account for soil compressibility, plasticity, fracture, friction, viscosity and gain in cohesive strength due to compression. In addition, a time relaxation sub-model for the soil plastic deformation and cohesive strength is added in order to account for loss in soil cohesive strength and reduced bulk density due to tension or removal of the compression. This is essential in earth moving applications since the soil that is dug typically becomes loose soil that has lower shear strength and lower bulk density (larger volume) than compacted soil. If the model does not account for loss of soil shear strength then the dug soil pile in front of the blade of a bulldozer will have an artificially high shear strength. A penalty technique is used to impose joint and normal contact constraints. An asperity-based friction model is used to model contact and joint friction. A Cartesian Eulerian grid contact search algorithm is used to allow fast contact detection between particles. A recursive bounding box contact search algorithm is used to allow fast contact detection between the particles and polygonal contact surfaces. A multibody dynamics bulldozer model is created which includes the chassis/body, C-frame, blade, wheels and hydraulic actuators. The components are modelled as rigid bodies and are connected using revolute and prismatic joints. Rotary actuators along with PD (Proportional-Derivative) controllers are used to drive the wheels. Linear actuators along with PD controllers are used to drive the hydraulic actuators. Polygonal contact surfaces are defined for the tires and blade to model the interaction between the soil and the bulldozer. Simulations of a bulldozer performing typical shallow digging operations in a cohesive soil are presented. The simulation of a rear wheel drive bulldozer shows that, it has a limited digging capacity compared to the 4-wheel drive bulldozer. The effect of the relaxation parameter can be easily observed from the variation in the Bulldozer's velocity. The higher the relaxation parameter, the higher is the bulldozer's velocity while it is crossing over the soil patch. For the low penetration depth run the bulldozer takes less time compared to high penetration depth. Also higher magnitudes of torques at front and rear wheels can be observed in case of high penetration depth. The model is used to predict the wheel torque, wheel speed, vehicle speed and actuator forces during shallow digging operations on three types of soils and at two blade penetration depths. The model presented can be used to predict the motion, loads and required actuators forces and to improve the design of the various bulldozer components such as the blade, tires, engine and hydraulic actuators.

Rigid body modeling has historically been used to study various features of the elbow joint including both physical and computational models. Computational modeling provides an inexpensive, easily customizable, and effective method by which to predict and investigate the response of a physiological system to in vivo stresses and applied perturbations. Utilizing computer topography scans of a cadaveric elbow, a virtual representation of the joint was created using the commercially available MIMICS(TM) and SolidWorks(TM) software packages. Accurate 3D articular surfaces, ligamentous constraints, and joint contact parameters dictated motion. The model was validated against two cadaveric studies performed by Chanlalit et al. (2011, 2012) considering monopolar and bipolar circular radial head replacements in their effects on radiocapitellar stability and respective reliance upon lateral soft tissues, as well as a comparison of these with a novel anatomic radial head replacement system in an elbow afflicted with the “terrible triad” injury. Rigid body simulations indicated that the computational model was able to accurately recreate the translation of forces in the joint and demonstrate results similar to those presented in the cadaveric data in both the intact elbow and in unstable injury states. Trends in the resulting data were reflective of the average behavior of the cadaveric specimens while percent changes between states correlated closely with the experimental data. Information on the transposition of forces within the joint and ligament tensions gleaned from the computational model provided further insight into the stability of the elbow with a compromised radial head.